Different kind of Worlds in Wollongong for Wout van Aert

Wout van Aert at the Team Belgium press conference during the UCI Road World Championships 2022
Wout van Aert at the Team Belgium press conference during the UCI Road World Championships 2022 (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)

As Wout van Aert rode through the small beachside suburb of Towradgi and towards the Wollongong city circuit on Thursday clad in his Belgian jersey and distinctive Red Bull helmet, he earned little more than a curious sideways glance from the odd driver and passer-by. 

Did they realise who had just ridden on by? Perhaps, but quite likely not. The rider who in last year's UCI Road World Championships enjoyed massive spectator support in the cycling heartland of Flanders is facing a very different kind of run up to the Worlds this September. In the country of Australian Rules Football and National Rugby League fanatics, cycling is embraced by a devoted section of the community. But not by all.

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Simone Giuliani
Australia Editor

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.